Financial incentives used to pressure media in Mexico, report finds

Share

Press freedom in Mexico faces widespread and growing threats from “soft censorship” that includes government use of financial incentives and penalties to pressure news media, punish critical reporting, and reward favourable coverage, according to a new report released by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

While Mexican journalists are frequently targets of physical attack, soft censorship is another more subtle and very significant danger to press freedom, the report warns.

The report was produced by WAN-IFRA and the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), in cooperation with the Mexico-based human rights organisation, Fundar Center for Analysis and Research, and the Mexico office of ARTICLE19.

“Although less visible than the terrible violence directed against journalists in Mexico, soft censorship is highly insidious and must be recognised for the very serious threat it poses to media independence and press freedom, in Mexico and around the world,” said WAN-IFRA CEO, Vincent Peyrègne. “Unlike direct assaults on press freedom, soft censorship is far more subtle and rarely generates similar levels of international outrage.”

The Mexico report is the third of a series of reports that WAN-IFRA and its partners, supported by the Open Society Foundations and Open Society Justice Initiative, have launched to investigate the practice of soft censorship worldwide. The first two, released in January, focused on Hungary and Serbia.

The practice of soft censorship, or indirect government censorship, includes a variety of actions intended to influence media, short of closures, imprisonments, direct censorship of specific content, or physical attacks on media outlets or journalists.

The report reveals that allocation of government advertising in Mexico is the most widely applied method of soft censorship. Without clear and precise rules, it is used as a means to influence or even blackmail media owners and journalists. Detailed research and extensive interviewing expose how federal and local governments use official advertising to shape editorial lines as well as to push partisan agendas, selectively funding media outlets that support certain officials and their policies.

The report calls for fair and transparent rules to promote development of an independent media sector. Its nine recommendations are designed as a launching point for wider reforms that are urgently needed to help the Mexican press fulfill their essential role in promoting democracy, pluralism and accountability.

"Mexico cannot reach a level of effective accountability or succeed in democratising its media landscape without addressing the arbitrary multi-million dollar allocation of official advertising that constrains pluralism, freedom of expression, and access to information,” said Fundar's lead researcher, Justine Dupuy.

Darío Ramírez, executive director of ARTICLE 19's Mexico and Central America Office, warned: "The lack of criteria for allocation of government advertising strongly influences information Mexican media outlets provide and distorts public debate. This threatens free speech, and adds quietly but powerfully to the chilling effect of impunity for violence against journalists.”

Despite the great challenges it identifies, the report offers some encouraging signs. A few states and some media outlets are working to instill new integrity in official and journalistic practice. And Mexico's president and legislators remain officially committed to enacting change.

More from Mexico

A series of revelations renewed concerns about illegal surveillance practices in the country, as spying software sold to the government abusively targeted human rights lawyers, journalists, and activists

Pakistan is among the countries that do not properly investigate and prosecute crimes against media professionals. Because of the near absolute level of impunity, most of the people who attack, injure or even murder media journalists in Pakistan remain free.

The report is based on incidents of crimes committed against journalists recorded by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) during the period 2012 to 2016. Most of the incidents of crimes against journalists, particularly killings, reported during this period are related to acts of politically motivated violence.

In the 27 cases of journalists murdered for their work in India since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, there have been no convictions. More than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption. The cases of Jagendra Singh, Umesh Rajput, and Akshay Singh, who died between 2011 and 2015, show how small-town journalists face greater risk in their reporting than those from larger outlets, and how India's culture of impunity is leaving the country's press vulnerable to threats and attacks

Latin America is, by far, the most dangerous region of the world for environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). The lack of effective guarantees of human rights protection in Latin American States has created this dire situation.

Press freedom in the Philippines continued to be under attack from 2014 to 2015. The killing of journalists is continuing, with four journalists killed from May 2014 to May 2015. The trial of the accused masterminds of the Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre and their supposed henchmen is continuing, but with a primary accused was released, while a witness in the same case was killed.

This 96-page report profiles eight “strongmen” linked to police, intelligence, and militia forces responsible for serious abuses in recent years. The report documents emblematic incidents that reflect longstanding patterns of violence for which victims obtained no official redress.

Journalism in South Asia is far from an easy profession, as the 12th annual review of journalism in the region "The Campaign for Justice: Press Freedom in South Asia 2013-14" portrays. But this year's report also tells the story of the courage of South Asia's journalists to defend press freedom and to ensure citizens' right to information and freedom of expression in the face of increasing challenges to the profession and personal safety.

RWB report is being published ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 5 April. It is the fruit of a fact-finding visit to the northern provinces of Parwan, Kapisa and Panjshir in September 2013

IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports. Some member content has been edited by IFEX. We invite you to contact [email protected] to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site.

Get more stories like this

Sign up for our newsletters and get the most important free expression news delivered to your inbox.